Stephen Hough’s new recording:
- “In the Night”
This latest recording by pianist Stephen Hough takes the listener on a journey through that most intense and absorbing of nineteenth-century obsessions, the night. Stephen Hough’s thoughtful programming creates a new collection for some of the most celebrated piano works in the repertoire.
Hough begins with Robert Schumann’s troubled composition titled ‘In der Nacht’ (At night) from his “Fantasiestücke”, and continues with Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata and Chopin’s two Op 27 Nocturnes.
Here are the selection titles:
Beethoven:
- Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight’
Chopin:
- Nocturne No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1
- Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
Hough:
- Piano Sonata No. 2 ‘notturno luminoso’
Schumann:
- In der Nacht, Op. 12 No. 5
- Carnaval, Op. 9
With Schumann’s “Carnaval” we experience one of the most vibrant parties in the nineteenth-century piano literature, with its brilliantly etched character sketches depicting both real people—such as Chopin and Paganini—and imaginary ones. Each movement is vividly contrasted; there are moments of unbridled ecstasy, elegant poise and elusive subtlety.
Also included is Stephen Hough’s own composition, the Piano Sonata No. 2 ‘notturno luminoso’, which he describes as ‘about a different kind of night … the brightness of a brash city in the hours of darkness; the loneliness of pre-morning; sleeplessness and the dull glow of the alarm clock’s unmoving hours; the irrational fears which are only darkened by the harsh glare of a suspended, dusty light bulb’.
Here is Stephen Hough in the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. (Played somewhat fast, I feel):
http://youtu.be/ZyGwAV7o7LI
And next, here is the Chopin Ballade No 1 performed by Stephen Hough:
Finally, let’s listen to Stephen Hough play the ‘Replique’ from Carnaval, Op. 9 by Robert Schumann.
Tags: Stephen Hough, Schumann, Beethoven, Notturno Luminoso, Chopin
